Taiga Nobori
' is the human form of , the third rider to appear in the tokusatsu series ''Kamen Rider Kiva, and later . He is portrayed by Shouma Yamamoto. Overview Taiga was born prior to 1986 as the first born son of Maya, the Queen of the Checkmate Four, and the Checkmate Four's original King. He would receive the title of King at infancy after his father's death before he was spirited away by Maya to be raised by Mamoru Shima as a human child, wearing a glove over his hand to conceal his Checkmate Four crest. It would be while as a boy that he encounters Wataru Kurenai and the two become good friends until Taiga was spirited off, his childhood being under heavy watch. Along with learning of his true nature as the Fangire offspring of the previous King and Queen of the Checkmate Four, Taiga developed a disdain for humans as he attacks Shima, scarring his foster father's back before taking his leave. As the current King, Taiga intends to prevent the progress of humanity from moving forward to the point of becoming a problem for Fangires like with Ixa. The crime becomes even more unforgivable should the guilty party be a Fangire. When executing an opponent, he says, . Though his Fangire form is a mystery, he displays impressive powers such as summoning a giant shadowy mass of vipers or conjuring up the Feathered Serpent called and multiple giant Sagarc under a larger as his support. Fictional character biography By 2008, Taiga founded the funding company called , which serves as a front to attract those who need funding for research of the betterment of mankind. After watching a corporate testing of a new metal, Taiga meets up with his old friend Wataru as the two catch up while he meets with his arranged fiancée Mio before introducing her to Wataru without realizing their relationship, having no idea of Mio's true feelings towards Wataru until overhearing her admit them to Wataru. Though he acts calm, it is a cover as he sees his marriage to Mio as absolute and is devastated to learn of her relation to his best friend. Although told by the Bishop to kill Wataru, Taiga refuses and instead gives Wataru an invitation to the wedding between him and Mio, explaining that he's too weak to protect her. However, tensions rise more as he and Mio learn that Wataru is the one who inherited his father's power as Kiva. After learning his mother's location, Taiga learns from her his biological relationship to Wataru as his half-brother. With this information, Taiga decides instead of killing Wataru, he wants his brother to become their ally, having the Bishop awaken the Fangire blood within Wataru for that purpose. Believing he succeeds in winning Wataru on his side as his right-hand man, Taiga sees marrying Mio the final step to his ideal life being realized with Maya giving him his birth-right as his father's successor to Kiva's power. When Wataru informs him that he wishes to live as himself and not as either human or Fangire, Taiga is shocked and infuriated to the point of conjuring up a Mother Sagarc and her offspring to educate Wataru unsuccessfully, before confronting his half-brother. He makes several more unsuccessful attempts to bring Wataru to his side, and when refused each time, he is forced to fight him. After an incident in which Shima is critically injured by the Sungazer Fangire, Taiga opts to save him. However, this is a front as he instead transfuses Fangire power into Shima's body, fully healing him in the process while making him into another Sungazer Fangire. At the same time, Mio accepts Taiga's marriage proposal (unaware of her own plans), and undergoes the marriage ritual with her, refusing to accept that she made an attempt on his life. When Shima confronts Taiga to fight, he fakes the fight to make it seem like he killed his stepfather in order to provoke Wataru into fighting him. After Kiva gains the upper hand on Saga, he goes in for the kill, only for Mio to intervene and take the final blow in Saga's place. The sudden interference and Mio's subsequent death leaves Taiga to vow on killing Wataru. However, Taiga learns that it was actually the Bishop, not Wataru, who killed Mio. Enraged, Taiga beats the Bishop to a bloody pulp before the Fangire runs off, now seeing Taiga unworthy to be his King. Later, Taiga encounters Wataru when dropping off flowers at Mio's gravesite, revealing the truth to him before he accepts Wataru's challenge. However, the battle is interrupted by the Bishop who brings an army of revived Fangires to ambush Saga in an act of vengeance. After he was defeated by Kiva, Taiga loses his standing among his Fangire peers as Wataru becomes the new King of the Fangires in his place. Refusing to let this happen, Taiga knocks out Maya in a fit of rage in an attempt to acquire the power of Dark Kiva. He would use the Dark Kiva power to settle things with Wataru once and for all, but in the end, he relents and uses the power to fight the revived Bat Fangire. The Dark Kiva powers would stay with Taiga after the final battle was over, regaining his position as D&P's president to find an alternate source of energy for the Fangires to thrive on. Taiga and Wataru eventually fight one last time at the finale of the series, hence showing their rivalry. OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let's Go Kamen Riders Kamen Rider Saga was part of a group of reinforcement riders led by Akira Date/Kamen Rider Birth to aid the primary riders in defeating the Rock Great Leader. All the Kamen Riders got on their bikes and performed the powerful All Rider Break attack which destroyed the Great Leader. Rider Powers * Rider height: 205cm * Rider weight: 110kg * Ability perimeters ** Punching power: 12t ** Kicking power: 35t ** Finisher Power (Snaking Death-Break): 40t ** Maximum jump height: 90m ** Maximum running speed: 100m/2s Saga's only form is accessed by inserting the Jacorder into Sagarc after the Sagarc Belt is formed. It is with this same item that Saga performs the finishing attack. Taiga then abandons his power as Saga to gain the power of Dark Kiva. Kamen Rider Saga's ending theme is entitled "Roots of the King". - Dark Kiva= *'Rider Height': 205cm *'Rider Weight': 112kg *'Ability perimeters' **'Punching power': 20 t. **'Usual kicking power': 35 t. **'Maximum jump height': 250 m. **'Maximum running speed': 100 m. per 1.2 sec. Dark Kiva only appears to have one form, similar to that of Kiva Emperor Form in black and red. However, Dark Kiva does not require the use of a being such as Tatsulot to achieve this form, and has no chains on his body as Kiva needs to control his power. As Dark Kiva, Taiga is pretty much like the King of the Checkmate Four, yet he retains his weapon, the Jacorder. As Maya would later explain, the Kiva power cannot be used by a normal human, as usage would ultimately result in death. This would prove to be true, as Otoya had used the Dark Kiva power a total of three times before finally dying due to the strain it put on his body. Shima also mentioned this when Wataru revealed his heritage to him. Kamen Rider Dark Kiva's ending theme, entitled "Supernova", also doubles as the ending theme for Kamen Rider Kiva's Emperor Form. }} Equipment Saga *Sagarc Belt - Transformation belt *Jacorder - Personal weapon *Fuestles - Whistle-like devices that activate a function, depending on the Fuestle Dark Kiva *Kivat-bat the 2nd - Taiga's Kivat partner *Dark Kivat Belt - Transformation device that forms when Kivat bites Taiga *Fuestles - Whistle-like devices that activate a function, depending on the Fuestle Rider Cards *'Kamen Ride: Saga': A Rider Card containing the power of Kamen Rider Saga. Used by Diend to summon Kamen Rider Saga. First used in the World of Den-O to fight M-Yuusuke. Behind the scenes Portrayal Taiga Nobori is portrayed by . Yamamoto also portrayed Takato Shiramine/Kamen Rider Rey in Kamen Rider Kiva: King of the Castle in the Demon World. As both Kamen Rider Saga and Kamen Rider Dark Kiva, his suit actor is . Trivia *Saga resembles the king chess piece, and the suit's design also incorporates serpents (specifically the viper) and stained glass. *Saga's name may come from the Japanese word for . The "Ga" in the name may also be based on the kanji for that can be also read as "Kiba" *Taiga's Fangire Form was never shown in the series despite being the King of the Fangires. **It is hinted though that he might be the Snake Fangire. *Taiga also shared his name with Taiga Nozomu, the human host of Ultraman Zero. *As Saga, Taiga has one of the most complex finishers for a Rider. *Kamen Rider Saga shares his name, but is not to be confused, with an Ultraman. *Snaking Death Break might be a homage to how Shamisen no Yuji from the 1981 TV series Shin Hissatsu Shigotonin kills various enemies. * Taiga & Wataru Kurenai are the first two Riders who are blood brothers, later followed by Takatora & Mitsuzane Kureshima who become the first two Riders to be full brothers. * As Kamen Rider Dark Kiva, he is the first Dark Rider who, in place of Secondary Rider, aids the Primary Rider to fight the final villain. * In the final battle against Bat Fangire, it seems that Taiga is unaware that Bat Fangire is, in fact, his father. References #"TV Asahi's page for Kamen Rider Saga". http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/kiva/rider/saga.html. Retrieved 2009-06-27. #"TV Asahi's page for the Saga Persona". http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/kiva/rider/sagapersona.html. Retrieved 2009-06-27. #"TV Asahi's page for the Sagarc Belt and the Jacoder". http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/kiva/rider/sagarcbelt.html. Retrieved 2009-06-27. #"チェックメイトフォーのキングであり、仮面ライダーサガの登 太牙（山本 匠馬）が普段乗っているバイクは何ですか？". http://www.honda.co.jp/customer/tips/kamen-rider/saga/index.html. Retrieved 2008-11-20.